Troubleshooting

Account Management

Libraries

Macabacus libraries are repositories for content and templates intended for frequent reuse that facilitate the standardization and preparation of materials produced by you or your organization

Overview

Macabacus libraries are repositories for content and templates intended for frequent reuse that facilitate the standardization and preparation of materials produced by you or your organization. You can create up to three libraries with Macabacus—a personal library intended for use by a single Macabacus user, a team library to be shared by users in a group, and a company library to be shared by all users in an organization.

Macabacus libraries are similar to PowerPoint's native Slide Library, except that (a) Macabacus requires neither the Professional Plus version of Office nor SharePoint to deliver such functionality, and (b) Macabacus lets you add much more than just slides to the library.

Library Content

A Macabacus library may contain seven types of content:

Slides — Slides commonly used in presentations, such as team pages, executive bios, and tombstone ("creds") pages

Library Templates

Model Templates — Financial or other models intended for use as starting points when building new models in Excel

Document Templates — Word document templates such as fax cover pages

The term "template" is used here loosely, as "template" normally refers to .xltx/.xltm and .dotx/.dotm files in the context of Excel and Word, respectively.

Using Libraries

Inserting Content

Click the Macabacus > Library button in PowerPoint, Excel, or Word to open the Library pane, which shows the content in all three of your libraries. The types of content available in the Library pane vary with the Office application in which you opened the Library pane. For example, slide content is only viewable in the Library pane when opened in PowerPoint. Available content is displayed as thumbnail images that provide convenient previews of content items as you browse them. You can mouse over slide and chart thumbnails for a larger preview. Library images are displayed on a checkered background, so that you can determine if transparency is supported, as you would expect to occur in certain illustration file formats (.png, and .emf). Use the toggle buttons at the top of the pane to toggle the visibility of libraries and content types. The search bar is a fast, powerful tool to help you find what you are looking for, and searches pre-indexed slide and other text very quickly.

To insert content into your presentation, workbook, or document, select the content in the Library pane and click the Insert button. Macabacus will insert the content at the current selection. When inserting shapes, images, and charts into PowerPoint with a placeholder pre-selected, Macabacus places the content into the placeholder if the placeholder accepts the type of content being inserted. When inserting charts into Excel, the inserted chart and its dummy data are added to the workbook on a new worksheet.

In PowerPoint, when you click native buttons for inserting pictures and charts, either on the ribbon or in some content placeholders, Macabacus can override the native behavior and open the Library pane instead, showing images or charts, as appropriate. If the Library pane is already open, then clicking these buttons results in native behavior (so, you can always click twice for native behavior). These settings are enabled by default, and can be changed in the PowerPoint > Library section of the Settings dialog, if desired.

If multiple cells in a single column or row are selected when inserting images from libraries in Excel, the image will be sized to match the height or width, respectively, of the selection. Otherwise, images are inserted at their original size.

Linking to Slides

You can optionally link slides inserted into PowerPoint via the Library pane to their source presentations, so they can be updated with a click of the same Macabacus > Update Link button used to update Excel links. To link inserted slides, check the Link to Source checkbox in the Library pane. Read more about linking with PowerPoint slides.

Linked slide example

A slide highlighting recent deals is published to your company library. This slide is updated quarterly, and is used frequently in presentations. An analyst begins drafting a presentation including this slide on June 20, but by the time the presentation is ready for print on July 5, the slide is outdated. With the click of a button, the analyst can replace the outdated slide with the library's updated version.

Using Templates

Presentation templates in your libraries are used by several of Macabacus for PowerPoint's presentation automation tools, and require specific configuration in order to work with these tools. You "use" a presentation template in your library by setting it to the "active" template, as discussed in another section of this manual. Spreadsheets and document "templates," on the other hand, are simply collections of useful workbooks and documents intended to serve as starting points or building blocks for creating financial models or a new fax cover page , for example. You use model and document templates by accessing them from the Macabacus > New menu in Excel and Word.

Working Offline

Cached Libraries

You can work with your remote library content and templates even when disconnected from the Internet or the network on which remote libraries are stored. When Macabacus cannot connect to a remote library, it will automatically switch to the locally cached version of the library (if caching is enabled). When inserting cached library content using the Library pane in PowerPoint, the option to link inserted slides to the library is disabled. An icon in the Library pane notifies the user when cached content is displayed.

How Caching Works

Macabacus automatically caches remote libraries at the frequency you specify in the Library Manager dialog (the default is every seven days). This setting can be shared as part of enterprise configuration so that remote libraries will be cached at the desired frequency for all Macabacus users. Automatic caching, when required, occurs in the background upon starting Excel, PowerPoint, or Word. Macabacus performs incremental caches, updating only those files and folders in the local cache that have changed in the remote library to reduce network load and improve caching speed. Cached libraries are saved in the following local folders, as applicable:

Using Cached Libraries Full-Time

In the Library Manager dialog there is an option to always use cached libraries. Enabling this option can improve how quickly content loads in the Library pane, depending on the speed of your network and how much content resides in the library, but prevents linking to library slide content and may leave you with outdated cached content and templates. If you decide to enable this option, set your cache frequency to a small value, like every one or two days.

Sample Library

When Macabacus is run for the first time after installation, or when Macabacus does not detect a personal library folder upon starting Office applications, Macabacus will automatically create a personal library and populate it with sample content and templates to demonstrate the functionality of libraries and other tools. Macabacus normally creates this library in your Documents folder, and its contents are copied from the installation files found at C:\ProgramData\Macabacus\Macabacus 20XX\Sample Library.

When the Macabacus software is subsequently updated, the newest versions of sample library content will reside in the ProgramData folder above, but your existing personal library folder will not be updated. Accordingly, you may be confused if you are reading a description of Macabacus-enabled templates in this manual, but the sample template in your personal library does not conform to the description. In these cases, you should refer to the sample files in your ProgramData folder, or reset your personal library (more on that below).

Sample content and templates are provided for demonstration purposes, only, and are not considered part of Macabacus software. They may be removed, replaced, or modified as desired.

Publishing Content & Templates

Content and templates are added to a library by "publishing" them. When publishing content and templates, Macabacus prompts you for the destination library. If a folder path to the selected library has not yet been specified, Macabacus will prompt you to select a folder for the library. For team and company libraries, this will typically be a folder on a shared network drive.

Add Slides to a Library

First, create a presentation containing only those slides you want to add to the library. Each slide should have a descriptive title for identification and searchability purposes. Then, click the Macabacus > Settings > Publish to Library > Slides button in PowerPoint to publish slides in the active presentation to the desired library. The file name of the presentation will serve as the description of the slide collection that is visible to end users in some Macabacus interfaces.

You can add multiple presentations to libraries. Therefore, it is not necessary to place all content slides into a single presentation. You may prefer to use multiple presentations to group similar slide content. For example, if you want to add ten team pages and ten "creds" pages to a library, it makes sense to break these into separate team page and "creds" page presentations, with ten slides in each.

Retain your original presentation

When you publish slides, the slides in your original presentation are marked with unique identifiers used for linking purposes. Therefore, it is necessary to retain the original presentation so that it can be republished, if desired, without breaking links between other presentations and slides in your library. See below for more guidance on republishing.

Add Shapes to a Library

First, create a presentation containing only those shapes you want to add to the library (placeholder shapes will be ignored). Each shape should be assigned a name in the PowerPoint Selection Pane that describes that shape's form, function, or intended use. Shape names are used for identification and searchability. Then, click the Macabacus > Settings > Publish to Library > Shapes button in PowerPoint to publish shapes in the active presentation to the desired library. The file name of the presentation will serve as the description of the shape collection that is visible to end users in some Macabacus interfaces.

You can add multiple presentations to libraries. Therefore, it is not necessary to place all content shapes into a single presentation. You may prefer to use multiple presentations to group similar shape content.

Add Images to a Library

First, create a folder containing only those images—such as company logos, headshot photos, and other reusable imagery—that you want to add to the library. Each image's file name should describe the image, as file names are used for identification and searchability. Then, click the Macabacus > Settings > Publish to Library > Images button in PowerPoint, Excel, or Word to publish the image folder to the desired library. The original folder's name will serve as the description of the gallery visible to end users in some Macabacus interfaces.

You can add multiple image galleries (folders) to libraries, so it is not necessary to place all images into a single folder. You may prefer to use multiple folders to group similar images. For example, if you want to add 100 company logos and 15 head shot photos to a library, it makes sense to organize these images in separate logo and head shot folders. Also, if you have hundreds of logos to publish, you could break them into folders named A-G Logos, H-M Logos, and so on.

Add Charts to a Library

First, create a workbook containing only those charts you want to add to the library using the following guidelines:

Each worksheet should contain only a single chart, its chart data, and any instructions you want to provide for the user.

In the chart data, clearly indicate which cells contain "dummy" data that should be replaced by changing the cells' font or fill colors.

Using Excel's Selection Pane, give each chart a name that describes its type, layout, or intended use to help users identify and find charts more easily in the Library pane.

Ensure there is no extraneous information in the workbook you are publishing, such as unused range names, unused styles, links to other workbooks, etc. You may consider using some of Macabacus' workbook optimization or Prepare to Share tools in this step.

The workbook should not contain chart sheets.

See the workbook containing charts that installs with Macabacus as part of the sample library for examples, if desired.

When you are ready, click the Macabacus > Settings > Publish to Library > Charts button in Excel to publish the charts in the active workbook to the desired library.

Add Tables to a Library

First, create a workbook containing only those tables you want to add to the library using the following guidelines:

Each worksheet in the workbook must contain a single table, formatted and populated as desired.

Tables published to a library are identified by the names of their worksheets, so name worksheets appropriately.

Select the entire table (i.e., cell range) to be published and nothing more on each worksheet.

Ensure there is no extraneous information in the workbook you are publishing, such as unused range names, unused styles, links to other workbooks, etc. You may consider using some of Macabacus' workbook optimization or Prepare to Share tools in this step.

When you are ready, click the Macabacus > Settings > Publish to Library > Tables button in Excel to publish the tables in the active workbook to the desired library.

Add Text to a Library

Select the text you want to publish, or the cell, shape, etc. containing such text, in Excel, PowerPoint, or Word, then click the Macabacus > Settings > Publish to Library > Text button.

Add Tombstones to a Library

Instructions for configuring and publishing tombstones are detailed in the tombstones section of this documentation.

Add Templates to a Library

To add a presentation, model, or document template to a library, click the Macabacus > Settings > Publish to Library > Presentation Template, Model Template, or Document Template buttons, respectively, in PowerPoint, Excel, or Word. The template you are publishing need not be open. Macabacus will prompt you for the library and document group to which you want to publish. Document groups provide a way to organize your templates, and you can create as many document groups as you like. The "Sample Models" menu visible under the Macabacus > New menu in Excel after installing Macabacus is an example of a document group. A large organization might create separate document groups for different business units.

Republishing

You can republish content and templates using the same processes described above. Ensure that any content files/folders being republished have the same name as those that were originally published to ensure that the old versions are overwritten. Macabacus will prompt you to confirm your intent to overwrite existing library content/templates.

When republishing slides, specifically, there are additional considerations involving slide links. When you originally published your slides to a library, the slides in your presentation were invisibly marked with unique link identifiers to support linking from other presentations. Therefore, when republishing slides, make any necessary changes in the original presentation and follow the guidance below to ensure that these link identifiers are preserved upon republishing.

If you are modifying the contents of a slide, but not replacing the slide itself, slide link identifiers are not affected.

If you are replacing a slide with a new slide, use the Migrate Links tool to copy the link identifier from the old slide to the new one.

If you are adding a new slide, the new slide will be marked with a link identifier upon republishing.

Do not copy and paste slides within the presentation to avoid duplicating link identifiers.

Slide links

When republishing slides, consider whether the Migrate Links tool is needed to preserve slide link identifiers. Also, do not copy and paste slides within the presentation to be republished. Otherwise, links to library slides in other presentations may be broken.

Manage Libraries

The General > Libraries section of the Settings dialog is used to configure library settings and manage library content/templates. Making changes to a company library requires that either (a) the user be a Macabacus account administrator, or (b) the host Office application be run as a Windows administrator.

Broken links

Deleting slide content from a library breaks any links to those slides.

Reset Your Personal Library

To reset all content and templates in your personal library to the sample library content/template installed with Macabacus, click the Reset Personal Library button in the General > Libraries section of the Settings dialog. A reset can only be performed on your personal library, not the team or company libraries. It may be a good idea to back up your personal library folder by simply making a copy of it, prior to resetting the library, so that you can subsequently reverse these changes, if desired. If you want to reference a file in the sample library that has been deleted, you may not need to reset your personal library at all. The file you want to reference can be found at C:\ProgramData\Macabacus\Macabacus 20XX\Sample Library (the ProgramData folder may be hidden).

This documentation refers to Macabacus version 8.9.17. Some features and descriptions of these features may notapply to older versions of Macabacus. Update your Macabacus software to take advantage of the latest features.

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